Members of the movement of Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA) hold flags and banners during a PEGIDA march in Dresden, January 25, 2015 (Reuters / Hannibal Hanschke) / Reuters

Some 17,000 supporters of the controversial movement PEGIDA joined the weekly Sunday March at its stronghold Dresden, Germany. The image of the movement was hurt last week when its co-founder resigned over a Hitler lookalike photo.

The rally was the first
since threats against the life of co-founder and former leader of
the Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West
(PEGIDA) Lutz Bachmann prompted city police to ban last week’s
rally. Bachmann since resigned after a photo of him with a
haircut and mustache resembling Adolf Hitler’s surfaced on
Facebook.

Dresden police said as many as 17,000 people walked the streets
of the city. PEGIDA’s largest march attracted 25,000 on January
21 in the wake of the Islamist attack in Paris.

The protesters were carrying signs with slogans like "They
don't do anything, they move here and they deal", "For a
sovereign country", "Honest people, get up at last"
and "Thank you Pegida", reports the Local. The slogan
“We are the people” used by the movement is of
particular irritation to the German establishment, as it has a
positive connotation with the spontaneous protests prior to the
fall of the Berlin Wall, and critics say PEGIDA is trying to
hijack that sentiment.

As the activists marched, a smaller counter-protest numbering
some 5,000 people gathered at a nearby cathedral. City officials
said a few scuffles between the two groups broke out.

PEGIDA said it switched the date of the rally from the usual
Monday to avoid a clash with a planned anti-xenophobia concert
called ‘Open and Colorful - Dresden for Everyone’ in the city
center, Deutsche Welle reported. But elsewhere in Germany and
some other European nations PEGIDA-sponsored events are expected
on Monday.

Small rallies supporting the movement’s agenda took place in
Norway and Denmark last week, while in Belgium, the city of
Antwerp banned an event citing security risks.

Hours before the self-styled anti-Islamization movement started
in Dresden, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier
blasted the group as “xenophobic” in an interview.

"At home we under-estimate the damage that PEGIDA's
xenophobic and racist slogans and placards have already
had," Steinmeier told the newspaper Bild.

"Whether we want it or not, the world is watching Germany
with great attention," Steinmeier added. He said that the
scrutiny makes "it all the more important that we say clearly
and strongly that PEGIDA does not speak in Germany's name."

Berlin’s top diplomat criticized PEGIDA for picking easy targets
in immigrants instead of considering the hard solutions to really
hard problems like ageing German population or insufficient
infrastructure.

PEGIDA insists that its racist image is blown out of proportion
and that it does not target all Muslims or all immigrants – only
those who don’t want to integrate, live on social benefits and
adhere to radical ideology.